Post-winder for wire fences



July 5, I89 MATTHE POST WINDER FOR EEEEEEEEE s,

icatioh fild Fe I M 054% i m a V". "V J UNIT D STATES LUTHER MATTHEWS, O

F PARIS, TENNESSEE.

,' POST-W INDER FOR WIRE FENCES.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Application filed February 10, 1898.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUTHER MATTHEWS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paris, in the county of Henry and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Post-Winders for Wire Fences, of which the following is a specification.

I have produced an improved Winding device for keeping taut the line-wires of wire fences; and the improvement in such device resides in the provision whereby the windingpin is adapted to slide endwise in its bearingbox, so that the wire will be wound only one coil deep and the relation of the winding-sur face to the hole in the post will be unchanged in winding the wire.

The accompanying drawings show in Figure 1 a portion of a wire fence and my improved winder for tightening the line-wires. Fig. 2shows the post in a horizontal section and top view of the winder. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of the same. Fig. 4 is a like section showing the key for the windingpin, and Fig. 5 shows the same in side View.

The posts 1 1 shown represent the end posts of the field to which the line wires or runners 2 are secured and which line-wires are provided with the usual vertical stay-wires 3. Running along close to the line-wires are fellowwires or runners of smaller size and which are connected to the end posts and wrapped around the stay-wires as a means of preventing them from slipping upon the linewires. As these stay-anchoring wires are made the subject of a separate application for a patent filed by me of even date herewith, this invention need not be more particularly described herein. I

The winder is a sort of box-casting 4, secured horizontally on the outer side of the post and having projecting ends 5, with coincident bores to receive a cylindrical pin 6 in position to connect with and Wind the line-wire, which is passed for this purpose through a hole 7 in the post and through a hole 8 in the back of the box and fastened to thewinder-pin.

The novelty of. the; device resides in the function of the winder-pin to wind the wire one coil deep only, and for this purpose it is adapted to be slid endwise in its bearings to receive one thickness of the wire as it is being wound thereon. To allow this sliding move Patent No. 606,873, dated July 5, 1898.

Serial No. 669,837. (No model.)

ment of the winding-pin, it is made with lon gitudinal ribs 8 at or near one end, forming a sort of ratchet in the cylindrical surface, and the box end has a vertical slot 9 at its upper side, within which slot ispivoted a lock-acting key 11, shaped or forked to engage like a ratchet the ribs of the winding-pin to lock it from turning and hold the wire stretched. The key is retained in place bya pin 12, which passes through a slot 13 -in the key to allow it to rise to disengage it from the winding-pin when it is desired to wind the wire to tighten it.

The winder-pin is from three to six inches long, and it is moved endwise in its bearings as the Wire is wound upon it, so that the wire never changes its relation to the winding-surface and the latter never changes its relation to the hole in the box through which the wire passes to the winder. The ratchet-ribs are formed below the winding-surface and they are long enough to allow the pin to be moved edwise in winding the wire, keeping the key always in engagement with the ribs, which may also form the winding-surface.

One end 14 of the winding-pin is formed to receive a winch whereby to turn the winder,

the engagement of the key permitting such turning.

I claim as my improvement- 1. In a post-winder for wire fences, the combination, of the line wires or runners and the post, with a winding device consisting of a box, a winding-pin movable endwise in said box and having longitudinal surface ribs, and

a key adapted to engage said ribs, whereby the said pin is free to be moved endwise to wind the wire thereon one coil deep.

- 2. In a wire fence and in combination with the line-wires and the winder-post, a bearingbox, a winding-pin movable endwise therein I and a gravity-acting key in said box for engaging andlocking said pinlin its winding function while at the same time it is free to be slid endwise in its bearings.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed this specification this 29th day of January, 1898. r I

LUTHER MATTHEWS;

In presence of-- F. N. FISHER, J. H. DUNLAP. 

